A turbocharger is a turbine-driven, forced-induction device that increases airflow into an internal combustion engine. A compressor, which is driven by a turbine, draws in ambient air and compresses it before it enters the engine at an increased pressure. This results in a greater mass of air entering cylinders of the engine on each intake stroke, which increases the engine's efficiency through decreased throttling losses and increases the engine's power output. Kinetic energy of exhaust gas produced by combustion of the air and a fuel within the cylinders is then utilized to drive the turbine of the turbocharger.
Conventional control strategies for vehicle turbocharger systems are often inefficient from the perspective of both man hours required to calibrate and effectiveness of the control strategy. One potential source of this inefficiency is the large number of interconnected components (the compressor, the turbine, a throttle valve, a wastegate valve, variable camshaft actuators, etc.) and their varying fluid effects. These conventional turbocharger control techniques can involve extensive calibration and recalibration efforts, if other control calibrations are changed (such as spark timing or variable camshaft timing), which is difficult and sometimes infeasible, particularly right before vehicle production. Accordingly, while such turbocharger control systems work for their intended purpose, there remains a need for improvement in the relevant art.